Catchfence

Who: Scott Speed (82 Red Bull Toyota), Brian Vickers (83 Red Bull Toyota)
What: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (Sprint Cup)
When: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis
Results: Scott Speed (start 26, finish 31); Brian Vickers (start 6, finish 5)

+ TOP FIVE + 26 POINTS = INDY

One day soon, Brian Vickers insisted on Sunday, Red Bull Racing Team will reach victory lane in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Until then, the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota racked up another top-five finish and the so-called good points day — the latest coming at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We’re going to win one of these races,” said Vickers, who finished fifth in the Allstate 400. “The whole Red Bull team is too good. The cars are too good. We’re right there.

Teammate Scott Speed, in his first race at Indianapolis since 2007 when he drove in Formula One, finished 31st in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota.

After qualifying sixth, Vickers ran in the top five all afternoon and was one of the few threats to win the 16th running of the Allstate 400. He led five miles during a green-flag pit sequence 35 laps from the finish and pitted on lap 126 for four tires and fuel. But he quickly reported a left-rear tire going down — even asking fellow competitors nearby to assess the problem under caution — and rode out the remaining laps rather than charging hard at the leaders.

“It was a good race, but not satisfied — by no means,” Vickers said. “We really wanted to come here and win this race. The 5 (Mark Martin) and the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) were really strong. I think when we were at our best, if we would have had the track position then we could have stayed out in front of them. It was very difficult to pass and track position meant a lot.

“Our luck bit us in the butt. We had a great car and we had a left rear go down on the last run. I thought I felt something right before we went back green (on lap 137). We just found out it was down to less than 15 pounds there at the end of the race. It just killed us. We just got really, really tight because of that and it’s frustrating.”

The finish was Vickers’ third top five and ninth top 10 of the season. He shaved off 26 points on his race to the Chase and moved up to 15th in the standings. He’s 120 points out of the top 12 with six races remaining before the Chase begins Sept. 20 at New Hampshire.

Speed’s day took a turn for the worse when, after reporting a possible failing tire, he pitted under green 13 laps in. He dropped from his 26th-place starting position to a lap down in 42nd, and the problem made for a long day around a long track with long straightaways.

He said his car was spot-on in Indy’s four corners but needed muscle down the two 5/8-mile straightaways.

We can’t beat ourselves up too much over this race,” Speed said. “We had a really good car. The balance was right, and we were really good through the corners. We just didn’t have the speed. I want to thank all of the Red Bull guys for their hard work.”

The No. 82 ranks 36th in the car owner standings — 187 points from the top 35 entering the season’s second race at Pocono. Speed qualified 37th there in June.

+ UP NEXT

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- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release